Chaukhamba Peak Uttarakhand

As the name suggests, Chaukhamba peak is a four-pillar shaped enormous peak. It is a mountain massif that has got four summits, along a northeast-southwest trending ridge situated in the Gangotri group of the Garhwal Himalayas. Being named as Chaukhamba peak I, II, III and IV, all of them has got different elevations that lie between 7,138 m to 6,854 m. But Chaukhamba peak I remains the tallest of all the four summits i.e. 7,138 m above the sea level. It towers above the Gangotri glacier forming the eastern anchor of the group. Positioned in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, west of the Hindu holy town of Badrinath, Chaukhamba Peak I is an ultra-prominent peak with a prominence of exactly 1,594 m. Mana Pass is the key col for Chaukhamba I.

With such attractive location and prominence, the whole of the massive has been quite popular among the explorers for trekking and peak climbing kind of adventure activities in Uttarakhand. Though, there had been few unsuccessful attempts in the year 1938 and 1939. But the peak was finally conquered by swiss Lucien George and Victor Russenberger on 13th June 1952. The route they chose was of the North-east face from the Bhagirathi-Kharak Glacier. Apart from this, there are three other possible climbing routes as well like the west face route, south-west face route and the north-west ridge. But that’s not all. There had been many failed attempts even after that while trying different routes. Taking that in consideration, Chaukhamba peaks is said to be an extensively difficult climb in the Uttarakhand Himalayas.

The trek to Chaukhamba peak starts from Badrinath; the holy town in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Being a popular Hindu pilgrimage site, the place has got good accessibility through road. But it doesn’t have any railhead or airport of its own. One has to travel via Haridwar, Rishikesh or Dehradun if looking for that.